Morris Argyle Assistant Professor Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. School of Energy Resources Symposium Casper, WY February 28, 2007

Transcription

1 Coal Gasification: What Does It Mean for Wyoming? Research and Development Initiatives of the University of Wyoming Morris Argyle Assistant Professor Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering School of Energy Resources Symposium Casper, WY February 28, 2007

2 Wyoming has enormous reserves of coal United States Russia China India Australia South Africa Wyoming Recoverabale Coal (Billion Short Tons)

3 Coal deposits exist under ~54% of the state s land area, but most is inaccessible to conventional mining Source: The National Coal Council, Coal: America s Energy Future, May 2006, Pg. 99

4 Opportunities for more efficient use of Wyoming coal Wyoming produced 404 million tons of coal in 2005 [ Highest production of any state, 36% of US supply Virtually all burned in power plants to provide ~51% of US electricity [A Concise Guide to Wyoming Coal 2006, Wyoming Mining Association Desirable to produce higher value products More efficient power generation Hydrocarbon liquids Hydrogen The University of Wyoming has research efforts in all three areas

5 Advanced Gasifier Development Under development by researchers at General Electric (GE) and the University of Wyoming (UW) Provides efficient Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power generation or synthesis gas for chemical production Several design features based on aircraft gas turbines

6 Recycle stream of cool gas for controlling reaction Rate and wall cooling GE/UW Gasifier Schematic WRI Hg removal H 2 O Steam/air mix Pressure vessel Gas Turbine Generators Compressor 1000F Combustion liner Water Steam Turbine Coal addition O 2 4 LM Ash removal Pressure swing 2 O 2 generator Oxygen

7 GE/UW Gasifier Reactor Detail Integral Inlet Particle Separator to remove fly ash Cold wall pressure vessel Expansion lowers velocity and increases residence time for low density char Cooling holes provide uniform oxygen/steam pressure and temperature along length of reactor Produces reaction along entire length & creates variable buoyancy fluidized bed

8 Advantages of GE/UW Gasifier Low cost, modular design; robust for reduced maintenance Inexpensive materials of construction + Cold wall pressure vessel + Cool wall reaction vessel refractory/ceramic linings not required + Non-slagging Relatively low pressure Low thermal losses } Optimum temperature and velocity profile along reactor length Designed to operate on Western coals Design can be optimized for operation at higher elevations Uses water in the coal Single pass operation (no recycle) Flexible for IGCC or chemical products production (dual use)

9 Status of GE/UW Gasifier Early, conceptual design stage Next steps Gather data to complete detailed design Pilot scale testing Commercialization Intellectual property/patent rights being pursued by GE Inventors John Ackerman, GE and adjunct UW professor Dave Bell, Brian Towler, and Morris Argyle of UW

10 Instead of IGCC, synthesis gas (syngas) from coal gasification can be used to produce liquid hydrocarbon products Fischer-Tropsch synthesis nco + 2nH 2 (CH 2 ) n + nh 2 O Produces good diesel fuel blend stock with high cetane number and low sulfur But, the product hydrocarbon is waxy and requires further processing for direct fuel use or for lubricants Generally requires 2:1 hydrogen:carbon dioxide High pressure catalytic process Exploring collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory and Brigham Young University to develop improved catalysts

11 Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis and Product Refining Model Professor David Bell and graduate student Sara Costopolous are collaborating with INL to model Fischer-Tropsch processes Computer model of liquid fuels and lubricant production from coal synthesis gas Initial model development at INL Economic feasibility of the process will be compared to IGCC In collaboration with the UW Agricultural and Applied Economics Department (Roger Coupal, David Taylor, and Tom Foulke) Funded by INL and UW School of Energy Resources

12 Synthesis gas can be used to produce hydrogen (H 2 ) Water Gas Shift (WGS) Reaction CO + H 2 O CO 2 + H 2 Requires a catalyst for efficient H 2 production Hydrogen economy Fuel cells Significant industrial demands for H 2 Ammonia production Petroleum refining Additional hydrogen required for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis or direct liquefaction

13 UW and the Western Research Institute (WRI) are collaborating to produce hydrogen (H 2 ) from coal synthesis gas Funded by the Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory Catalyst is being developed by UW Catalyst integrated with a metallic membrane to separate H 2 produced by reaction WRI developing brazing techniques to seal membrane and reactor Catalyst Syngas Sweep Syngas Sweep Syngas Membranes Potential to produce pure H 2 and CO 2 H 2 for fuel or chemical use CO 2 for sequestration or enhanced oil recovery

14 WRI s Coal Gasifier Testing of combined catalyst/membranes on coal syngas in upcoming weeks

15 Catalytic Gasification Some components of coal ash appear to catalyze (speed up) gasification reactions Calcium, for example, is effective, but at lower concentrations than are present in most coal ash By analogy with petroleum coke, other metals may also be effective Nickel, present in crude oil, appears to promote gasification reactions Potential to add catalyst to gasification process Research is proposed to develop cost-effective catalysts

16 Other UW Research Initiatives Tax policies to encourage IGCC plant construction in Wyoming (Dave Bell and the Departments of Agricultural and Applied Economics and Economics and Finance) The Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department is searching for a senior professor specializing in coal conversion (one of 12 distinguished SER chairs) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) separation membranes (Maciej Radosz and Youqing Shen with the Enhance Oil Recovery Institute) and sequestration (Ruckleshaus Institute and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources) Direct coal liquefaction (Morris Argyle) Building on work of emeritus professor Henry Haynes Clever reactor design built by Ron Borgialli Alternate technology to coal gasification for liquid hydrocarbon production

17 Underground Coal Gasification Schematic 1,000 + G e Geo-reactor, or Gasifier From UK DTI, % of world s coals too deep for conventional mining Source: GasTech Inc., Casper, WY; Dr. Steve Morzenti, President

18 Acknowledgments University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources Western Research Institute Idaho National Laboratory U.S. Department of Energy

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